A hammer in every sewing kit.

bottle

I saw bottle planters on the internet a few weeks ago and decided I’d really like to make some. So I did. Bam!

I’ve Baby’s Tears in two of them, and a maidenhair fern I found at the very back of the plants when I went plant shopping. It was a bit sad looking, with a lot of brown leaves. I pruned those away and split it in half. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure how long the ferns will survive in the bottle – it might be too small for them. We’ll see though, right?

There’s a lot of methods around for cutting a bottle like this, the most popular being wrapping fuel soaked string around the bottle, setting that on fire and then dumping the lot in cold water. Knowing my luck, this would have resulted in exploding bottles and shards of glass everywhere.

When I was a kidlet, I remember seeing one of those commercials for mail order stuff for a bottle cutter. I wanted one so much, but never got one. Now I’m (technically) an adult, I decided I’d just bloody get one. I looked at a few, and ended up going with an Ephrem’s Bottle Cutter because it looked like the one where the least amount of things could go wrong.

I’d love to show you some “In progress” shots, but the technique is very much a two handed one, so I didn’t get around to taking any pictures. It was dead easy, although I did find it tricky to keep the right amount of pressure on the bottle at first. Too much with the hand on the neck of the bottle makes it kick up and slip out of place.

It’s a time consuming process, but not a difficult one. I tried the boiling/iced water baths as a way to break the bottle once scored, but it didn’t work so I went to the candle/ice method. Essentially, you’re not cutting the glass so much as controlling a break. Heating followed by rapid cooling shocks the glass and it breaks along the weakest point which is the scoreline the cutter etches into the surface. You can then finish the cut edge with emery paper etc (wetted). I took off the corners of the edges, but didn’t bother polishing further – if I was making drinking glasses I would polish a lot more but the breaks were smooth enough for planters.

The cutter itself is pretty cool, though I got the basic model and might get the handy dandy attachments which will make it possible to cut tiny and huge bottles, as well as necks. Don’t stop me now! I’m having a good time!

Also adding to the finished project pile is the cushion cover I was doing to re-cover a footstool.

Working on a printed canvas is lovely good times, although it took me a long while to get out of the habit of “marking off the chart” at the end of every section. No chart to mark! I’ve made mistakes, but meh, who doesn’t? We’re going to attach this to some canvasy material to make it fit the stool – the edges aren’t quite long enough to cover the sides. This is listed as design “5.017” by Collection d’Art.

As for works in progress – I have a lot of catching up to do on the Temperature Scarf, and a new kit to do (if I can find it) which I will show you ages from now when it’s done.